PHẦN 3: ĐỀ ÔN LUYỆN THI PRACTICE TEST 6

PART A. PHONETICS (10 POINTS)

Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others’.

PART C. READING (30 POINTS)

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each of the following question.

Blown Off Course

For the residents of the sleepy seaside town of Lowestoft, 3 September, 1965 was a day to remember. It all started in the early afternoon, when the wind began to blow, the sky darkened and a(n) (51)…………cloud appeared. As it approached, people were (52)…………to see objects dropping onto the ground. These giant ‘raindrops’ were, in fact, migrating birds blown off course by an unexpected storm. As townspeople ran for (53)…………from the rain, some even had birds landing on their heads. This (54)…………was not confined to Lowestoft. All along the coast thousands of exhausted birds were (55)…………out of the skies. This was the biggest migration of birds ever (56)…………in Britain. The next day when the wind dropped, one birdwatcher recorded a staggering total of more than 30,000 birds.

Each autumn, millions of migrating birds leave Scandinavia. On this occasion, crossing the North Sea, they ran into thick clouds and heavy rain. The birds were (57)…………by the bad weather. Many became exhausted and fell into the sea, but others pressed on. These lucky survivors landed on the British coast (58)…………local birdwatchers. Fortunately, weather conditions rapidly (59)…………and, after resting and feeding, the birds departed south.

To observe such migrants, you need to watch out for high pressure over Scandinavia, combined with unsettled weather over the eastern part of the British Isles and an onshore wind. If these conditions are in place during the evening head towards the east coast soon after dawn and, with luck, you will be rewarded with an (60)…………experience.

It all started in the early afternoon, when the wind began to blow, the sky darkened and a(n) (51)…………cloud appeared

As it approached, people were (52)…………to see objects dropping onto the ground.

As townspeople ran for (53)…………from the rain, some even had birds landing on their heads

This (54)…………was not confined to Lowestoft.

All along the coast thousands of exhausted birds were (55)…………out of the skies.

This was the biggest migration of birds ever (56)…………in Britain. The next day when the wind dropped, one birdwatcher recorded a staggering total of more than 30,000 birds.

The birds were (57)…………by the bad weather. Many became exhausted and fell into the sea, but others pressed on.

These lucky survivors landed on the British coast (58)…………local birdwatchers.

Fortunately, weather conditions rapidly (59)…………and, after resting and feeding, the birds departed south

If these conditions are in place during the evening head towards the east coast soon after dawn and, with luck, you will be rewarded with an (60)…………experience.

Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others’.

Read the following passage and fill in each blank with ONE suitable word.

The Australian Aborigines have recorded both real and symbolic images of their time on rock walls for many thousands of years. (61)…………..the long history of this tradition, new images have appeared and new painting styles have developed. And these characteristics can be used to categorize the different artistic styles. Among these are what we (62)…………..the Dynamic, Yam and Modern styles of painting.

One of the (63)…………..significant characteristics of the different styles is the

way that humans are depicted in the paintings. The more recent paintings show people in static poses. But the first human images to dominate rock art paintings, over 8,000 years ago, were full of movement. These paintings showed people hunting and cooking food and so they were (64)…………..the name ‘Dynamic’ to reflect this energy. It’s quite amazing considering they were painted in (65)…………..a simple stick-like form. In the Yam period, there was a movement away from stick figures to a more naturalistic shape. (66)………….., they didn’t go as far as the Modern style, which is known as ‘x-ray’ because it actually makes a feature of the internal skeleton as (67)…………..as the organs of animals and humans. The Yam style of painting got its name from the fact that it featured much curvier figures that actually resemble the vegetable called a yam, (68) …………..is similar to a sweet potato. The Modern paintings are interesting because they include paintings at the time of the first contact with European settlers. Aborigines managed to convey the idea of the settlers’ clothing by simply painting the Europeans (69) …………..any hands, indicating the habit of standing with their hands in their pockets! Size is another characteristic. The more recent images tend to be life size or even larger, but the Dynamic figures are (70)…………..in miniature.

(61)…………..the long history of this tradition, new images have appeared and new painting styles have developed.

Among these are what we (62)…………..the Dynamic, Yam and Modern styles of painting.

One of the (63)…………..significant characteristics of the different styles is the way that humans are depicted in the paintings

These paintings showed people hunting and cooking food and so they were (64)…………..the name ‘Dynamic’ to reflect this energy.

It’s quite amazing considering they were painted in (65)…………..a simple stick-like form.

In the Yam period, there was a movement away from stick figures to a more naturalistic shape. (66)………….., they didn’t go as far as the Modern style

because it actually makes a feature of the internal skeleton as (67)…………..as the organs of animals and humans.

The Yam style of painting got its name from the fact that it featured much curvier figures that actually resemble the vegetable called a yam, (68) …………..is similar to a sweet potato.

Aborigines managed to convey the idea of the settlers’ clothing by simply painting the Europeans (69) …………..any hands,

The more recent images tend to be life size or even larger, but the Dynamic figures are (70)…………..in miniature.

Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others’.

Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each question.

Simply ticking the boxes isn’t enough

I have been asked what I think about the idea of ‘Investing in People’. The best answer I can give is that I think what it tries to achieve - basically making the link between business improvement and focusing on the needs of the people who work for an organization - is great. My problem is with organizations who subscribe to it as a way to help the ‘get better’, when they don’t bother to understand where they went wrong in the first place. They need to ask what explicit and implicit policies and procedures they have in place that prevent their people from being able to do the right thing for the right reasons.

I am sure that there are managers out there who don’t know any better, and assume that to manage they simply need to put pressure on their people to perform. But people don’t demonstrate high performance because they see the need to do it, and make the choice to do so. They do it because they are connected to the business goals and they see how their contributions can help achieve them. Such managers may tell themselves they can put a ‘tick’ in the ‘we care about people’ box. But simply putting ticks in boxes is no good if it doesn’t reflect reality.

I know of a company that was so concerned that its people were doing the ‘right thing’ that it put in place a series of metrics to measure their effectiveness. So far, so good. But one of the objectives - making successful sales calls - manifested itself in the metric ‘Number of potential customers seen in one day’. The sales people obviously focused their efforts on going from one customer’s office to another, and not on closing deals. Instead of the employees becoming more effective, they focused on getting the boxes ticked. Good intent; poor thinking.

Another company wanted to improve the speed with which it was able to introduce

new products. Competition was beating it to the market place, and consequently the  company was losing market share. Senior management sent out the message to reduce the time spent in getting products into customers' hands, with the explanation that they couldn't afford delays. This was a relatively easy task, especially since the time spent testing the products was cut in half to accomplish the time reduction. The result was new products were introduced in less time than those of competition – but soon rejected by customers for poor quality. Good intent; reckless implementation.

A third company I know is trying hard to help employees see that they have some control over their future. The company instituted a programme with a title like ‘Creating our own future’ or something like that. A good idea; get the people involved in the future of the company. But instead of the employees becoming motivated to contribute, they saw it as a hollow exercise on the part of senior management who, in the past, had paid little attention to anything other than getting the job done so they could report great earnings. Yes, the programme was a big ‘tick the box’ effort, but that was all it was in the minds of the people that it was designed for.

A final example is of a company that brought in one of their ‘Investing in People’ programmes to change the way the company was run. Assessors were running around like crazy, heling managers examine how they managed. They told managers how they could manage better. And when the programme was over, the company was able to say that they had done it - it had invested in its people and life was now good. But the managers simply went back to business as usual. After all, the assessors were gone, and they had targets to hit.

[80A] All these examples are representative of senior management who see the need to improve things in their organization, but don't see how to do it. [80B] And when the employees simply see the programme as a box-ticking exercise, then it's hopeless. If a company is going to go through the effort implied in investing in people, it should make it worthwhile. [80C] Defaulting on the choice to improve the decision-making process by going through the motions is as lame as senior management saying their people’s poor performance is not the senior management’s fault. [80D]

(adapted from CAE Practice Tests)

The writer thinks that putting the concept of “Investing in People” into practice……….

The writer’s main point in the second paragraph is that the performance of employees………

What point does the writer make about the first company he describes?

The word “objectives” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to………….

What point does the writer make about the second company he describes?

What does the writer say about the programme introduced by the third company he mentions?

The word "hollow” in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to……...

The writer says that the programme in his final example………...

The word "it" in the last paragraph refers to………..

Look at the four options [80A], [80B], [80C] and [80D], which indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?

For a start, a programme targeted at improving things is only as good as management's ability to motivate their people.

Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose underlined part is pronounced differently from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose main stress is different from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose main stress is different from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose main stress is different from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose main stress is different from that of the others’.

Choose the word whose main stress is different from that of the others’.

PART B. LEXICO AND GRAMMAR (40 POINTS)

Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions.

I expect your Chinese…………a great deal by the time you…………back from China.

The elementary means of communicating with other people…………messages by voice.

The paper had to make several journalists…………last week due to loss of sales.

The President mentioned pension reform and went on…………that he would reduce unemployment figures.

The tyres of my car have…………I must get new ones.

Tom: “I loved Christmas as a child.”

      Nick: “So did I. Every Christmas Eve all the family…………the tress together.”

The car park…………is responsible for parking customers’ cars.

The Roman people are believed…………to Europe around the beginning of the last millennium.

My parents told me that taking the car on Saturday night was          …………

I'm really sleepy today. I wish I…………Bob to the airport late last night.

.…………as taste is really a composite sense made up of both taste and smell.

Although.…………, he has been to more than 30 countries in the world and gained a lot of experience.

If you wash that pullover in the boiling water, it will………….

His change of job has…………him with a new challenge in life.

Cashier: “All right. Keep your receipt. If something comes up, you can show it to us and you can get a refund.”

Customer: “…………”

Underline and correct ten mistakes in the following passage. Write the corrections in the space given below.

Thanks for the field of linguistics we know little about the development of the 5,000 plus languages in exist today. We can describe their grammar and pronunciation and see how their spoken and writing forms have changed over time. For example, we understand the origins of the Indo-European group of languages, which includes Norwegian, Hindi and English, and can trace them down to tribes in eastern Europe in about 3000 BC.

So, we have mapped out a great number of the history of language, but there are still areas we know little about. Experts are beginning to look to the field of evolutionary biology to find out what the human species developed to be able to use language. So far, there are far more questions and half-theories than answers.

We know that human language is far more complex than those of even our nearest and most intelligent relatives like chimpanzees. We can express complex thoughts, convey subtle emotions and communicate about abstract concept such as past and future. And we do this following a set of structural rules, called as grammar. Do only humans use an innate system of rules to govern the order of words? Perhaps not, as some research may suggest dolphins share this capability so they are able to recognize when these rules are broken.

(adapted from learnenglish.britishcouncil.org)

For example: 0. for → to

Give the correct form of the words in brackets to complete each of the following sentences.

Parents have deep…………about allowing business values to be used in schools. (GIVE)

For many people, social networking offers them a feeling of…………from the real world. (ESCAPE)

Any actor who becomes known for one role is in danger of becoming…………. (TYPE)

According to a recent survey in Britain, more women than men emphasized………… and trust. (CONFIDENCE)

People also read these papers for their reviews of new books, films and plays and for their…………and job satisfaction. (EDIT)

She stood there completely ………… so I had no idea at all what she was thinking. (EXPRESS)

Getting angry with your boss is…………because it’ll just make a bad situation worse. (PRODUCE)

For many people, Ludwig Van Beethoven is the most________ figure in the history of western classical music. (INFLUENCE)

His…………talent was already clearly evident. (ORDINARY)

Mark, a…………commentator, was often featured on state television explaining government policy. (TELEVISION)

Complete each of the following sentences with the appropriate phrasal verbs from the box in their correct form.

The destruction of this area of habitat will mean that some species of plant will ………

Could you…………the message to Darren when you see him, please?

Lack of sleep over the last few months is finally…………Jane.

When the funds finally…………, they had to abandon the scheme

The plan to build a new motorway…………due to a lack of money.

PART D. WRITING (20 POINTS)

Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.

I think you should buy a new pair of shoes and get rid of those trainers.

->It’s about ………………………

Do not blame me if the tine-opener’s broken.

->It is not………………

Although he is industrious, he hasn’t succeeded.->Industrious……………………

As she hadn’t been there before, America was a whole new experience for her.-> Not…………………………

I dislike it when people criticize me unfairly.->I object…………………

Rewrite the second sentence using the given word(s) so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence. Write between FOUR and SIX words including the given words.

Are you saying Dan gets angry easily, Fiona? (SHORT)

->Are you saying Dan………………………………………………, Fiona?

Why didn’t you search everywhere for your wallet? Then you might have found it. (LOW)

->If………………………………………………for your wallet, you might have found it.

It only took us a few days to get to Milan. (MATTER)-> We got to Milan………………………………………………days.

Wilson has so much talent that a number of different clubs are interested in him. (SO)->Wilson……………player that a number of different clubs are interested in him.

Write a paragraph (150 words) about the causes of the fact that families now are not as close-knit as they were in the past.